


(All I Wanna Know Is) Would You Come a Little Closer?

by SpectralScathath



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:27:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24819907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpectralScathath/pseuds/SpectralScathath
Summary: There's nothing better on a snowy night then curling up on the couch with the person you love, at least according to Yang and Ilia. Nights like these were what made love worth every adventure.Requested Lava Lamp oneshot for Joethefriendlyponybro.
Relationships: Ilia Amitola/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	(All I Wanna Know Is) Would You Come a Little Closer?

Yang noticed flakes of white beginning to drift down around her and held out her right hand, watching a snowflake land on her metal palm and begin to melt. She smiled and wiped it off on her jacket, giving Ilia’s hand a squeeze. 

“Looks like we’ll be having a snowy day tomorrow too,” she grinned, frost crunching under their boots. “Pretty _cool_ , right?”

Ilia grunted in irritation, pulling her hand out of Yang’s as she crossed her arms, scowling up at the sky. “Let’s just get home and get today over with.”

“Hey, is everything okay?” Yang raised a brow. Had today really been that bad? It was just a bit of scouting, clearing out a few Grimm here and there. The area of Vale that they lived in could be pretty quiet some days, and this was luckily one of them. It meant Yang could spend it all with her girlfriend, instead of one or both of them being away on some sort of mission, or in Ilia’s case, White Fang work. 

Ilia rolled her eyes. “Everything’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Everything didn’t sound fine. Yang reached out and placed a hand on Ilia’s shoulder. “You sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I just want to get home.” Ilia started walking faster, her arms wrapping around her a little more. Yang could have sworn she saw Ilia shiver.

Hang on- was it the chill in the air? A playful glint sparked to life in lilac eyes as Yang tried to cheer her cold-blooded girlfriend up. “Yeah, once we’re home I can warm you up all night long~”

“Really, Yang?” Ilia looked at her, entirely unimpressed.

“Cause I’m hotter than the sun,” she continued, tossing her golden hair with a cocky grin. “Not as hot as you though.” She punctuated the last statement with a wink. 

Ilia’s skin started to bloom an angry red, her eyes shifting to a bright hue before she took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Yang.”

“You _electrify_ me, yanno?” She deliberately dropped her eyes down to the whip sword on Ilia’s hip.

Normally a pun like that would at least earn a chuckle, maybe even Ilia’s scale freckles turning cotton candy pink, but all she got was a scornful glare. “You know what? I’ll see you at home. I don’t have time for this.”

She stomped off, leaving Yang behind in the falling snow. Yang winced as she realised she might have misjudged just how much the cold got to Ilia. Oops. 

The rest of the walk home was silent, Ilia only beginning to lose the aggressive set to her shoulders when they walked into their current home, at least until the next missions. “I’ll put food on if you get a fire going.”

“Can do,” Yang gave her a two-fingered salute, her grin softer and less cocky then before. Ilia gave her a tiny smile in return, silently letting Yang know her grumpy attitude was starting to clear up. 

It was easy enough to start a flame, she’d done it plenty of times as a kid under her dad’s supervision, which had become a useful tool in her Huntress Wilderness Survival arsenal. The smells of food cooking began to waft through the air, mingling with woodsmoke into a homely aroma that matched the warmth of her home.

She wandered into the kitchen and looked at Ilia, her girlfriend putting the finishing touches on their dinner. It looked like Ilia was making pasta of some sort? “Hey, Ilia, can we talk? After dinner? I promise it’s probably not a bad kind of talk.” She didn’t want it to be. She wanted this to work. 

Ilia looked at her, considerably calmer. “Okay. Food first. That mission left me pretty famished,” she grinned faintly.

“You’re in a good mood,” Yang observed, crossing her arms as she leaned against the door frame.

“I’m sorry I was so snappish earlier. It was just really cold outside.” Ilia shuddered. “I felt like I was on the verge of falling asleep or something.”

“And you’re cranky when you’re tired, I get it,” Yang smiled. “Don’t worry, no harm no foul, right?”

“Right.” Ilia looked like she hadn’t expected Yang to let it go so easily. Sometimes things were like that. They were both still working around each other’s old wounds. But they were working on it, and for Yang that was all that mattered.

“Anyway, I’m gonna go get out of my combat outfit. Give me a few minutes?” She stretched, her arm whirring with the motion.

Ilia waved her off with a smile. “Go change, you.”

Yang shot at her with a set of finger-guns as she left, rolling her neck and shoulders until something clicked. That felt good.

She took a second when she was upstairs to look out the window, watching the snowfall as the world was coated in pearly winter white. It looked beautiful. Romantic too. What a perfect night to be with her girlfriend. She’d missed her so much.

She started downstairs once she’d gotten out of her combat gear, tossing her hair to keep it out of her face. Downstairs was dark, aside from a light in the kitchen and the fire burning merrily in the living room grate.

“Ilia?” She raised a brow as she looked around, holding herself back from activating the combat form of her prosthetic.

She thought she saw movement out of the corner of her eye before she was tackled in a hug, barely staying on her feet. She let out a small yelp in shock before she realised the ebony arms encircling her were Ilia’s, the dark colour fading to reveal her grinning girlfriend.

Yang barked out a laugh as she hugged her back, holding Ilia up off the ground. “Sneaky.”

“You love it.” Ilia teased. “Your eyes are doing the pink thing again.” She mirrored the colour in her own eyes, the soft pink much prettier on her in Yang’s opinion.

Yang gave her a gentle kiss. “Guess it means I love you.”

Ilia pulled back enough to rest her forehead against Yang’s. “I love you too, but we need to go eat dinner or it’s going to get cold.”

“Wouldn’t want anything else to get cold,” Yang grinned and put her down.

Ilia rolled her eyes with a laugh, holding Yang’s hand as they walked into the kitchen. “You’re incorrigible.”

“And proud of it. So, what’s for dinner? Smells good.”

Ilia’s freckles turned bright pink. “Mac and cheese for you.”

“Wait, really?” Yang brightened up. “You mean my signature dish?” If Ilia had added broccoli and bacon she was going to smooch her forever and ever and ever.

“All the bonuses you put in included.” More of Ilia’s skin began to change colour as she got bashful. “I wanted to do something nice for you, you know? It’s been a while.”

“Aw, Ilia,” Yang smiled at her and kissed her cheek. “That’s so sweet!”

“It’s not- why you- shut up and eat!” Ilia snapped in embarrassment, not quite able to hide her pleased smile.

“Okay, okay,” Yang grinned. “You having any?”

“Nah, I got ramen though. I’m not feeling like anything rich.” Ilia began to plate dinner up, handing a massive bowl of pasta to Yang. They settled down in front of the fireplace, Ilia pulling a blanket around her shoulders to stay warm.

“So,” Yang asked around a mouthful of food. “How’s Fang business?”

“It’s going well. We’ve gotten a lot of good infrastructure going for the faunus in Mistral, and we’re finally going to open a Huntsman Academy in Menagerie. I can’t believe we’ve gotten it on equal standing with the other four kingdoms. There’s even going to be a CCT Tower,” Ilia beamed, eyes shining.

“You’ve really come a long way,” Yang speared some bacon on her fork. “Blake’s doing pretty good as leader.”

“Yeah, although the Huntsman Academy was Sun’s idea. He’s volunteering to teach, apparently.”

“Sun as a teacher?” Yang tilted her head as she considered it. “That’s either going to be awesome or a disaster.”

“Those poor kids,” Ilia laughed in agreement. “He finally worked up the nerve to propose, did you hear?”

“Trust me, I heard.” Yang grinned. “Blake didn’t get off the scroll for hours. I got like, sixty pics of her new ring. Looks pretty.”

“Yeah, he ran it by me and Weiss first.” Ilia snorted. “How’s reclaiming Beacon going? Bet that’s been keeping you busy.”

“Ruby’s spearheading it along with dad and Qrow,” Yang nodded. “She and Oscar have been doing a lot of work to clear out Grimm. They’re totally dating, by the way, but they’re pretending they aren’t so if they announce it at some point can you act surprised?”

“Sure,” Ilia grinned and made a dramatic shocked face, hamming it up way too much. “How’s this?”

“Bang on,” Yang laughed, Ilia joining her soon after. “Thanks for the food, Ilia. It’s really good.”

“I was just following your recipe.” Ilia smiled at her, setting her empty bowl aside. “So… you wanted to talk?”

Yang nodded. “Let me put these in the sink,” she gestured at her own bowl as she scraped the sides for any last smidge of food, “then we’ll talk. Okay?”

“Okay.” Ilia’s voice held a note of trust that Yang knew had to be so hard for her to give, after everything that had happened, with how she’d lost trust in so many people by force, and Yang felt her heart flutter knowing Ilia was willing to give her the chance to do better than all those who had come before.

She left the bowls to soak overnight and took a second in the kitchen doorway just to watch Ilia by the fire, her breath catching in her throat as she watched the soft orange light dance over Ilia’s skin, painting her with a colour that wasn’t her own camouflage.

Ilia noticed her staring and raised a brow, pulling the comforter higher around her shoulders. “Yang?”

“You’re gorgeous, you know?” She said it without thinking, meaning it with her whole heart.

Ilia’s freckles began to dye pink again. “You’re so soppy.”

“Yeah,” Yang smiled and sat beside her. “I am.”

“So…” Ilia studied her with those intelligent blue eyes. “What did you want to talk about?”

Yang bit her lip as she fiddled with a few strands of her golden hair. “I want to talk about us.”

Ilia straightened, her gaze intensifying as she watched Yang. “Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong- I just…” How was she meant to say it? It sounded childish, even in her own head. It sounded like the scared little girl she’d once been, who thought everyone she loved was destined to leave her.

“Yang.” Ilia took her left hand, and she hadn’t even realised that it had begun to tremble. “You can tell me anything. I promise.”

Yang smiled weakly. “This is going to sound silly, but I miss you when you’re off with the White Fang.”

Ilia’s grip tightened on her hand, the firmness of it comforting. She didn’t say a word, waiting for Yang to elaborate.

Yang flicked some of her hair out of her face, bionic fingers whirring with the motion. “I know that your work is important, believe me, I never want to get in the way of it, I don’t want to hold you back, but… even though I’m helping clear Beacon with my family and friends, and I’m living the life of adventure I always wanted, sometimes I still have to come back to an empty place.”

She pawed at her eyes out of habit, not to wipe tears away but to prevent them forming in the first place. “The places I stay just don’t feel like home when you’re not there with me, Ilia.”

Ilia reached up with her free hand, the one Yang wasn’t currently clutching like a lifeline, and smoothed some of the hair from Yang’s face with so much care that for a second Yang wondered if her hair was actually spun gold.

“I miss you too,” Ilia admitted, her hand moving to rest gently against Yang’s cheek. Yang leaned into it automatically, seeking the comfort of her girlfriend’s touch. Ilia took a minute to gather her thoughts and plan her words before she said them, in stark contrast to Yang’s rambled explanations.

“When I’m working with the White Fang, I feel like I’m making a difference. A real one, not the kind where I have to hurt people. I don’t like to hurt people and I never have. Working towards peace with the White Fang as it is now is my real calling.” Her thumb stroked the ridge of Yang’s cheekbone, Yang’s eyes fluttering shut as she basked in the amount of love that tiny affection held.

“I know. I think what you’re doing is amazing.” Yang placed her mechanical hand over the hand on her cheek. “I don’t want you to stop.”

“I know.” She could hear Ilia’s smile in her voice. “But every day I’m not here, I still miss you. We can call and everything, but it’s not the same as waking up in your arms each morning. The distance gets to me too.”

Yang let her eyes open, gravitating to Ilia like she was a binary star and Ilia was her other sun. “So… what can we do?”

“I guess all we can do is to make the times we are together worth it,” Ilia closed the distance and kissed her, an act which Yang reciprocated with every ounce of tenderness she could give.

“I love you,” Yang told her when they broke apart, knowing without seeing Ilia’s grin that her eyes had turned pastel pink. Red was for rage, but pink was for love. Yang loved Ilia with her heart and soul and she hoped Ilia could see it.

“I love you too,” Ilia tossed her blanket around Yang’s shoulders, cuddling into her side. “But we should get some rest.”

“I know,” Yang stroked a hand through Ilia’s hair, her mechanical arm securing around Ilia’s waist. “I want to spend every night I can like this.”

“We can find a place together,” Ilia smiled at her, a yawn trailing after the sentence. “We can make a home that can feel like it even when one of us isn’t there.”

Yang kissed her forehead, pulling her a little closer as she felt the siren song of sleep start to call her. “I’d like that.”

Ilia hummed in agreement as her eyes slid shut. “Yang?”

“Yeah?”

Ilia’s smile was soft as she curled tighter into the warmth Yang radiated. “I love you too.” 


End file.
